{"id":1488,"date":"2021-09-20T18:57:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T18:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=1488"},"modified":"2021-09-20T19:00:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T19:00:12","slug":"community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/20\/community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Forest Leaders  Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Banner Image: <em>Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and what services he or she rendered.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The money was meant for roads, schools and clinics<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The chiefdom wants them punished.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Henry B. Gboluma, Jr.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>KORNINGA, Gbarpolu County<\/strong> \u2013 Residents of the Korninga Chiefdom in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County want authorities to investigate and penalize the leaders of a community forest for allegedly misusing US$50,275 it received from a logging company operating in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The leadership of the Korninga \u2018A\u2019 Community Forest received the fund from Coveiyalah Investment Enterprise to carry out the community project. The two parties signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/frontpageafricaonline.com\/county-news\/liberia-two-communities-sign-logging-contracts-but-sector-woes-loom\/\">logging contract<\/a> in April 2019 for the company to fell timber in the 48,296-hectare forest in exchange for much-needed development. But townspeople from all seven communities affected by the logging operations accuse the leadership of embezzlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey unilaterally used close to US$50,000\u2026 with no impact in the affected communities,\u201d said Massaquoi Kamara, who is the chairperson of the chiefdom chair, in an interview with The DayLight. \u201cWe are asking the office of the local authorities to take this report, properly investigate and where the fault will be discovered at the detriment of the people, those of you who will be linked must be penalized to serve as a deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson Flomo, the chief officer of the Korninga \u2018A\u2019 leadership\u2014known across the forestry industry as community forest management body (CFMB)\u2014told residents in a meeting on August 21 that he had authorized US$2,000 on a traditional ceremony and $US1,750 to purchase two motorcycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flomo also said he paid a lawyer US$1,300; US$1,310&nbsp;for a community workforce training&nbsp;and US$6,275 for another training for him and other members of the leadership as well as US$3,300&nbsp;for their Christmas gift last year. He said he also spent US$500 transportation to Monrovia and back to Gbarpolu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flomo did not name the lawyer he paid neither did he say why he and his team spent additional money on transportation when they had already purchased two motorbikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other members of the leadership deny the fees were paid for those purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese people acted on their own,\u201d said Dennis Flomo, a member of the community assembly, which is the highest decision-making body in the community forestry. It also approves the community forest\u2019s annual budget and oversees its expenditure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">County authorities placed a stay order on the community forest\u2019s account on the same day of the meeting after Coveiyalah paid US$48,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Expression of Pain and Anger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People interviewed by The DayLight in the region, an epicenter of the private use permit (PUP) Scandal of 2012, expressed their frustration over the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m grieving in my heart,\u201d said James Sumo, Clan chief of Gainkpa, one of the largest towns in the chiefdom. \u201cIf anybody is guilty, let them be punished and be made to pay our money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Falko Yarsiah Reed, town chief for Tawalata Town, said, \u201cOur children are just wasting here, and there is no school. We expect that when the company does anything, the communities benefit but this other report is making us feel bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLet the law take its course because if we leave them, other people will do the same thing tomorrow,\u201d said William Karmon, a prominent elder in the chiefdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is the reason while you people (leadership) went through the nine steps that qualified this team to manage this forest. We also put educated people amongst you people, yet, you people have gone against the people,\u201d said Olu Nangba, former commissioner of Bopolu District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"974\" height=\"424\" src=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga-.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1491\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga-.png 974w, https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga--600x261.png 600w, https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga--300x131.png 300w, https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga--768x334.png 768w, https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga--150x65.png 150w, https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Korninga--696x303.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 974px) 100vw, 974px\" \/><figcaption>Johnson Flomo, the embattled chief officer of the Korninga A Community Forest reads justifies his spending of logging money. The DayLight\/Henry Gboluma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The community is also wrangling over who investigates the leadership. The TheCommunity Rights Law of 2009 with reference to the Forest Lands says Where there are reasonable allegations that a community forest management body or any of its members is mismanaging community forest resources or has engaged in misconduct or misappropriation of the community funds, the executive committee (EC), with the technical support of the [FDA] should conduct an investigation and prepare a comprehensive report.\u201d But Paramount Chief George Sumo\u2014who is not a member of the forest leadership, does not want Austin Kamara, the EC chairman, to conduct the investigation due to his absence from meetings. He recommends the office of the superintendent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Subsequently, the Superintendent Representative at the said meeting assured the seventy affected communities of the county administration\u2019s swift response.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Making remarks at the said meeting, the Regional Coordinator of FDA, Ruth Varney said the community leadership had performed very poorly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYour people selected you to serve them for your children to benefit tomorrow, but you have abused that glory opportunity by using their money unnecessarily,\u201d she said. How can you say you spent the people&#8217;s money without their concern on a lawyer? \u201cWhen was the last time you went to court?&nbsp; \u201cThat money was not meant for that. How do you expect us to give an account of what you have done?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Varney said she would work with local authorities and would stand by the findings of their investigation. \u201cIf it means that FDA changes all the team members, we will have to take that decision, to have a new board to work for their people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The leadership could face a court trial if the investigation finds them guilty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-logging","category-rainforest"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.9 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow, max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Harding Giahyue\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"msvalidate.01\" content=\"CA6BD2F84653EA44942A55ABC0B35372\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/20\/community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.9\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The DayLight - The DayLight is a nonprofit, environmental news website. Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. The DayLight is published by The DayLight Incorporated in Vahnwin Community, Congo Town.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community Forest Leaders Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu - The DayLight\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/20\/community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_9516-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_9516-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-20T18:57:12+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-20T19:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/news.thedaylight\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Community Forest Leaders Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu - The DayLight\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-site-identity.png\" \/>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Community Forest Leaders Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu - The DayLight","description":"Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/20\/community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu\/","robots":"noindex, nofollow, max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"msvalidate.01":"CA6BD2F84653EA44942A55ABC0B35372","miscellaneous":""},"schema":null,"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"The DayLight - The DayLight is a nonprofit, environmental news website. Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. The DayLight is published by The DayLight Incorporated in Vahnwin Community, Congo Town.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Community Forest Leaders Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu - The DayLight","og:description":"Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and","og:url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/20\/community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu\/","og:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_9516-1-scaled.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_9516-1-scaled.jpg","og:image:width":2560,"og:image:height":1707,"article:published_time":"2021-09-20T18:57:12+00:00","article:modified_time":"2021-09-20T19:00:12+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/news.thedaylight","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Community Forest Leaders Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu - The DayLight","twitter:description":"Banner Image: Gainkpa, Korninga Chiefdom in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue The leaders of Korninga A Community Forest spent US$5,275 without the approval of the rest of the community. They paid themselves US$3,300 Christmas gift and US$7,585 for training It spent US$1,300 for legal fees but does not say who the lawyer is and","twitter:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-site-identity.png"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"1488","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":"2025-08-15 01:56:16","breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"reviewed_by":null,"ai":null,"created":"2023-09-23 11:53:22","updated":"2025-10-10 10:18:34"},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">\u00bb<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/\" title=\"Rainforest\">Rainforest<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">\u00bb<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/logging\/\" title=\"Logging\">Logging<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">\u00bb<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tCommunity Forest Leaders  Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68"},{"label":"Rainforest","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/"},{"label":"Logging","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/logging\/"},{"label":"Community Forest Leaders  Siphon Over US$5,000 in Gbarpolu","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/20\/community-forest-leaders-siphon-over-us5000-in-gbarpolu\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1488"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1498,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions\/1498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}